CPS ASEC (March) Documentation

The primary documentation for the various CEPR data extracts are the programs themselves. They provide an exact description of the definition of each of the variables and, in most cases, are heavily annotated.

The Census Bureau has produced a great deal of useful documentation about the March CPS. The best place to start is the joint Census CPS home page.

For each year, the Census provides Codebooks with subject definitions and Data Dictionaries to help understand each variable.

Please note that the 2014 March CPS included redesigned health insurance and income questions. All of the addresses received the redesigned health insurance questions. However, the income questions were fielded using a split panel design, where 5/8ths of the sample (approximately 68,000 addresses) were given the same income questions as the previous year, while 3/8ths (approximately 30,000 addresses) were part of the “Research File” and were given redesigned income questions. Therefore, there are two sets of documentation for 2014.

Codebooks

Data Dictionaries

Questionnaires